Abstract
<p class="apa">This paper aims to engage with and respond to recent calls in the literature for a unifying theoretical framework to understand second language teacher education (SLTE). It critically reviews the major conceptualizations of SLTE in relation to the key conceptualizations of second language (L2) teaching. The review identifies shortcomings in traditional perspectives on L2 teaching and SLTE and the need to re-conceptualize SLTE as a field. A recent re-conceptualization of SLTE is seen through the shift towards a social constructivist perspective, a redefinition of the knowledge base, research that responds to the epistemological shift, and a sociocultural perspective on SLTE. The existing literature shows that although there is now a growing body of research that looks into the various dimensions of SLTE, few studies have gained a comprehensive and systematic view of the complexities of SLTE. The paper argues that a sociocultural perspective, especially a combination of Vygotsky’s genetic method and Engeström’s proposal of the third generation of activity theory, has become a powerful way of understanding L2 teacher learning, which corresponds to the need for a re-conceptualization of SLTE. This paper calls for more research using a sociocultural framework to enrich its knowledge base.</p>
Highlights
This paper aims to engage with and respond to recent calls in the literature for a unifying theoretical framework to understand second language teacher education (SLTE)
This paper aims to trace back the origins of the need for such a unifying theory and provide a response to it by engaging with the shift to a sociocultural perspective on SLTE and its implications for research on L2 teacher learning
The present paper reviewed the literature on the major conceptualizations of SLTE in relation to the key conceptualizations of language teaching
Summary
One of the limitations of the literature on teacher education in general and SLTE in particular is the lack of a coherent, shared theory of learning as a lens for a common understanding of teacher education, and this needs to be urgently addressed. Given that interpretive research has come to be seen as a better suited paradigm for understanding the complexities of language teacher education, and the field has undergone a shift towards an interpretive paradigm (Johnson, 2009), its limitation mentioned above is characteristic of a major proportion of current research in the field and worth attention This is in evidence through an extensive review of research on language teacher learning (Borg, 2006) where it is found that in order for the field to move forward, it is imperative to have a broader, coherent conceptual framework to organise our current understanding of teachers’ thinking, knowing, and doing. This paper aims to trace back the origins of the need for such a unifying theory and provide a response to it by engaging with the shift to a sociocultural perspective on SLTE and its implications for research on L2 teacher learning It begins by reviewing the most prominent traditional conceptualizations of language teaching and how they inform different views on second language teacher education. The paper argues for the potential of a sociocultural perspective, especially the concepts of genetic method (Vygotsky, 1978, 1981) and activity theory (Engeström, 1987, 2001) in researching L2 teacher learning
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